Everyday Discernment: The Importance of Spirit-led Decision Making – Day 5

Day 5 and so much learning about what discernment is, how discernment is acquired, how to discern sin, and even how to discern to use our time. Today we reach the halfway point in our 10 day devotional and am excited to get to hear what Tim is going to share with us.

Life demands we make critical choices, but how can you do so effectively? Your ability to discern can make all the difference in what your future looks like. As you read, you will discover how to measure what you are taught against the truth of God’s Word, how to develop a life-giving connection with God, and the path to finding clear direction from the Holy Spirit.

Everyday Discernment: The Importance of Spirit-led Decision Making | Devotional Reading Plan | YouVersion Bible

Scripture from Today’s Devotional:

To receive discernment we need to turn to God’s Word and be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit! God’s Word is active and alive and so we need to make time and take time to meditate on it daily! This is the day that the Lord has made so let’s rejoice and be glad in it!

Let’s be the dads who realize the power of words and the words we choose to use today! Let’s be the dads who think before we speak because we know that our words have the power to build up and tear down! Let’s be the dads who allow the Holy Spirit to grant us wisdom before we open our mouths to speak because we know that ‘The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.’

Let’s be the dads who realize the responsibility and accountability that comes with choosing to teach! Let’s be the dads who realize the benefits and the consequences of our choices in how and what we teach! Let’s be the dads who grab hold of the reality that we who teach will be judged more strictly! Let’s be the dads who realize the power of the tongue and its impact on all of our lives for we know from God’s Word that if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way! Let’s be the dads who reflect upon and meditate on the reality that we can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth, and a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong! Let’s be the dads who realize the power in such a small instrument, our tongue, our words, and that the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire and among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire! Let’s be the dads who realize the impact of the type of fire on our entire body! Let’s be the dads who realize that when the fire of hell is what is burning it will take over the entire body and destroy it! Let’s be the dads who don’t just pick and choose the verses we like and dislike and grab hold of everything God has to say for scripture is God-breathed with purpose! Today’s scripture goes on to tell us “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.”

Let’s be the dads who choose to speak about what is good and right! Let’s be the dads who lean in on the Holy Spirit to help us choose to speak what is good and right! Let’s be the dads who spend time with God and ask the Holy Spirit to give us a clean heart for we know that from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks! Let’s be the dads who wait upon the Lord before we speak so that when we speak love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control because we know against such things there is no law! Let’s be the dads who because of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us and staying connected to Jesus who is the vine, are able to produce good fruit from our lives like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! Let’s be the dads who realize from what we say the state of our hearts so that we can turn to God and ask Him to help us have a clean heart and get a renovation or clean up!

Today’s devotional has been provided to us by Helping you make better decisions that honor God (discerning-dad.com)

Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)

For more information, please visit: https://discerning-dad.com

Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Discernment with Words“

• Let’s be the dads who are willing to turn to God’s Word in order to be trained and receive wisdom and discernment from God!
• Today’s devotional kicks off by pointing out:
  • “The Bible has a lot to say about the tongue and the power of our words. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”“
• It continues by pointing out what James 3:1-12 has to tell us:
  • “James Chapter 3:1-12 has some serious warnings about the power of the tongue and its effects on those around us. James likens the tongue, something so small that affects something much larger, to a ship’s rudder in its ability to direct and steer and to the way a horse’s bit controls the direction of the horse (v. 3-4). Neither a rudder nor a bit has control on its own just like a tongue has no power; it is just a chunk of muscular tissue! The control of our tongue all depends on the person operating it just as a captain has full control of the ship or a rider control of the horse through the leverage of something so small.“
• Today’s devotional points us to the fountain or source for what words come out of our mouth when it shares:
  • “The true “heart” of the matter is shown to us in Matthew 12:34, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” When Jesus controls our heart, our lips are controlled as a result.”
• Let’s be the dads who pause before we speak and allow the Holy Spirit to provide us with discernment about our thoughts and the state of our hearts so that we don’t just speak fire and destroy others!
• Let’s be the dads who pause before we speak to our wives because we know how important they are to us and to God and so seek discernment from God before we speak!
• Let’s be the dads who pause before we speak to our kids because we know how important they are to us and to God and so seek discernment from God before we speak!
• Let’s be the dads who pause before we speak to our friends because we know how important they are to us and to God and so seek discernment from God before we speak!
• Today’s devotional points out how hard this can be when it shares:
  • “Unfortunately the people we say we love the most, can be the easiest for us to speak out in anger or negativity against.  We need to let God direct our words regardless of how we are feeling in the moment.  It takes many positive words to overcome one negative word said against someone.  Sometimes the damage is irreparable.“
• Let’s be the dads who choose God’s discernment over our feelings in the moment!
• Let’s be the dads who choose to ask God for discernment rather than trusting our own feelings!
• Let’s be the dads who trust God rather than leaning on our own feelings and understanding so that He can show us the path to take!
• Today’s devotional closes with the following thought and challenge:
  • “Let your heart be filled with the love of God and allow it to overflow in your interactions with others through the words you speak.  You might be the difference in someone’s day to show them the love of Jesus.“
  • “Who is God convicting you about that you can have better discernment with your words today?“